Apparatus for sintering



Sept 12, 1933. B. w. GONSER 1,926,043

APPARATUS FOR SINTERING Original Filed Jan. 24, 1950 INVENTOR. BRUCE W.GONSER I By 313,4

A TTORNEYS.

Patented Sept. 12, 1933 APPARATUS FOR SHNTERING Bruce W. Gonser,Arlington, Mass, assignorto American Smelting and Refining Company, NewYork, N. Y., a corporation of New Jersey Application January 24, 1930,Serial No. 422,998 Renewed December 2,1932

'7 Claims.

This inventidn relates to sintering, and more particularly to theremoval of volatile metals in a sintering operation. The invention isespe cially applicable to the removal of cadmium and lead in thesintering of zinc ores.

It has been found that in a sintering operation the volatile metals tendto condense in the lower portion ofthe bed as they come in contacttherewith and that the removal of these metals from the bed requires ahigher temperature or a longer sintering period for the lower portion ofthe bed than for the upper portionthereof The present invention providesfor so controlling the temperature and duration of the sintering in thevarious portions of the bed as to substantially eliminate the volatilemetals from the various parts thereof. This is acconnplished by adding aquantity of fuel or raw ore at a predetermined portion of the bed,

as for example, near the bottom thereof, so that a greater heat may bedeveloped when the zone of combustion reachesthis part of the bed duringthe sintering operation. For accomplishing this in auxiliary feeder isemployed which is so arranged that the position in the bed to which thefuel is applied may be varied and controlled atwill. F i

The invention also consists in certain new and originalfeatures ofconstruction and combinations of parts hereinafter set forth an claimed.

Although the novel features which are believed to be characteristic ofthis invention will be particularly pointed out in the claims appendedhereto, the invention itself, as to its objects and advantages, the modeof its operation and the manner of its organization may be betterunderstood by referringto the 'followiiig description taken inconnection with the accompanying drawing forming a part thereof, inwhich Fig. 1 is a side elevation of a portion of the sinteringrmachinepartly in section showing the arrangement of the feeders; and v 'Fig. 2is a section taken on the line' 2-2 of Fig. 1.

Like reference characters denote like parts in the several figures ofthe drawing. I

In the following description and in the claims parts will be identifiedby' specific names-for convenience, but they are intended to be asgeneric in their application to similar parts as the art will permit.Referring to the drawing more in detail the invention is shown asapplied to a sintering machine comprising a plurality of pallets 10 (Cl.266-21)v charge to be deposited in a thin even layer.

The various parts of a sintering machine and the charging apparatus arewell known in the art and are accordingly not described herein indetail.

For adding fuel or ore to the lower portion of the bed there isprovided-an auxiliary feeder 20 which is mounted on. trunnions 2i.Feeder 220 communicates with chute 22 which receives material fromtraveling belt 23. Hopper 24 is mounted adjacent belt 23 and serves toapply the fuel or ore thereto.

For imparting an oscillatory motion to the feeder whereby the charge maybe distributed evenly across the entire width of the pallets there isprovided a crank ,25 which is connected by connecting rod 26 to rotatingcrank 27. Crank 27 may be operated in any convenient manner and causes areciprocating movement of connecting rod 26 which in turn causes feeder20 to pivot about trunnions 21.

For controlling the vertical distribution of the fuel in the pallets anozzle 30 is pivoted, as by pivots 31, adjacent the end of feeder 20.Rod 32 is pivotally connected to said nozzle and is operated by lever 33which is mounted on feeder 20. It is to be noted that'the pivotalposition of nozzle 30 is determined by the position of. lever 33 andthat the point of application of the charge is varied accordingly. Anadjustable bafiie 34 is provided for further controlling thedistribution of the charge and preventing the same from becomingsegregated.

In the operationof the above described device for the sintering of zincores an auxiliary feeder. is used to apply a definite amount of coal,coke, raw sulphide ore or other suitable fuel to any desired portion ofthe sinter bed. The amount of fuel is accordingly increased at thedesired point, especially near the bottom of the bed, and insures asubstantial removal of the volatile metals therefrom. As the zone ofcombustion travels downwardlythrough the bed the volatile metals arefirst condensed in the colder portions of the bed. As the zone ofcombustion reaches the lower portion the extra heat produced by theadded fuel causes these condensed metals to volatilize and to besubstantially completely removed from the bed.

The reducing conditions produced by using an excess of carbon in thecharge favor the elimination of cadmium, although the amount of zincvolatilized is comparatively small, seldom exceeding 1% of that chargedinto the machine.

It is to be noted that the position of the added fuel may be closelyregulated by tilting nozzle 30 to apply the fuel at a prescribed pointalong the slope of the main charge. The corresponding regulation ofbafiie 34 prevents the fuel from rolling down this slope to an undesiredextent.

Although certain novel features of the invention have been shown anddescribed and are pointed out in the annexed claims, it will beunderstood that various omissions, substitutions and changes in theseveral steps of the process and in its operation and in the form anddetails of the apparatus illustrated may be made by thoseskilled in theart without departing from the spirit of the invention.

- cont olling the position of said nozzle for applying material atvarious points along the slope of the charge.

. 3. In combination with a sintering machine, a feeding apparatusincluding a charging chute for applying a sloping charge thereto, abaiiie for leveling off said charge and an auxiliary feeder forapplying'an additional charge at a given point along the slope of themain charge.

4. In combination with a sintering machine, a feeding apparatusincluding a charging chute for applying a sloping charge thereto, abaffle for leveling off said charge, an auxiliary feeder for applying anadditional charge at a given vpoint along the slope ofthe main charge,and

means for rocking said auxiliary feeder transversely of the bed to causea substantially even transverse distribution of the charge.

5. In combination with a sintering machine, a feeding apparatusincluding a charging chute for applying a sloping charge thereto, abafile for leveling off said charge, an auxiliary feeder for applying anadditional charge at a given point along the slope of the main charge,and means associated with said auxiliary feeder for controlling theposition of application of said charge along the slope of the maincharge a whereby the vertical distribution of the auxiliary charge maybe controlled.

6. In combination with a sintering machine, a", feeding apparatusincluding a charging chutef for applying a sloping charge thereto, abaffle i for leveling off said charge and an auxiliary feeder forapplying an additional charge at a given point along the slope of themain charge, an adjustable bathe in a position to contact with thecharge applied by said auxiliary feeder 1e and to control thedistribution thereof.

7. In combination with a sintering machine, a feeding apparatusincluding a charging chute for applying a sloping charge thereto, abaffle for leveling off said charge, an auxiliary feeder W for applyingan additional charge at a given point along the slope of the maincharge, a nozzle pivoted to said auxiliary feeder, and means forcontrolling the position of said nozzle for applying the charge-to apredetermined point 1 in the bed. A g

BRUCE W. GONSER.

